Atlantica Yield Plc (NASDAQ:AY) on Friday reported a nearly doubled attributable net loss for the first quarter of 2019 and announced an enhanced strategic partnership with major shareholder Algonquin Power & Utilities (TSX:AQN).
The clean energy yieldco has entered into an agreement that gives Atlantica the right to invest in two Algonquin assets in the US for a total equity value up to USD 100 million (EUR 89m). The deal also calls for the two companies to review Algonquin’s contracted assets portfolio in the US and Canada over the next six months to identify drop-down opportunities. Moreover, the two parties have modified their existing shareholders agreement to enable the Canadian company to increase its Atlantica stake up to 48.5% without any change in corporate governance. Algonquin’s current ownership interest amounts to 41.5%.
As per Atlantica’s financial performance in January-March 2019, the company posted an attributable net loss of USD 9 million compared with a loss of USD 4.8 million a year back, with cash available for distribution (CAFD) increasing 4.9%.
More details are available in the table below.
| Figures in USD million |
Q1 2019 |
Q1 2018 |
| Revenue |
221.5 |
225.3 |
| -- from Renewable Energy |
156.8 |
167.2 |
| Further adjusted EBITDA including unconsolidated affiliates |
181.1 |
179.8 |
| -- from Renewable Energy |
123.5 |
131.4 |
| Profit (loss) for the period |
(3.7) |
(1.5) |
| Profit (loss) attributable to the company |
(9) |
(4.8) |
| CAFD |
45.1 |
43 |
On a constant currency basis, Atlantica’s Q1 revenue rose by 4.1% and further adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) including unconsolidated affiliates went up 6.7%.
During the three-month period, the company’s renewable energy business booked a further adjusted EBITDA, including unconsolidated affiliates, of EUR 123.5 million compared with EUR 131.4 million a year earlier. Revenues at this business segment decreased to EUR 156.8 million from EUR 167.2 million. Renewable energy production in January-March 2019 improved to 581 GWh from 507 GWh, with Atlantica having 1,496 MW of installed renewables at the end of March.
The company noted that production in the US solar portfolio was lower than in the same period of 2018 because of lower solar radiation and scheduled maintenance stops, but generation in Spain climbed significantly. At the same time, the firm’s wind farms produced substantially more power due to the contribution of the newly acquired 50-MW Melowind wind farm in Uruguay.
Atlantica noted that it is on track to meet its annual CAFD forecast. The board of the company declared a quarterly dividend of USD 0.39 per share, which is a 22% increase compared with the same quarter of 2018.
(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.890)
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Solar panels in USA. Author: Pete Jelliffe. License: Creative Commons. Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic.
